CP Violation in Baryons: A Historic Clue to the Universe's Matter-Antimatter Mystery
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Science & Technology (Particle Physics, Standard Model, Large Hadron Collider - LHC, CERN, Matter-Antimatter, CP Violation, Baryons, Mesons).
Mains:
GS Paper 3: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life; Achievements of Indians in science & technology.
Key Highlights from the News
CP Violation in Baryons: A Historic Clue to the Universe's Matter-Antimatter Mystery
One of the biggest mysteries in physics is why the universe today consists almost entirely of matter, even though matter and antimatter might have been in equal quantities at the beginning of the universe.
CP violation, the difference in behavior between matter and antimatter, is a significant clue to this mystery.
An international team of scientists at Europe's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) reported the first-ever discovery of CP violation in baryons, which was previously observed only in mesons.
Most of the matter around us is made up of baryons like protons and neutrons. This phenomenon was discovered in the decay of a specific particle called the b⁰ baryon.
This discovery is a significant step towards understanding the Matter-antimatter asymmetry puzzle.
The experimental result has a statistical significance of 5.2 standard deviations (5-sigma), which is the standard required to confirm a new discovery in particle physics.
However, this discovery alone cannot fully explain the absence of antimatter in the universe, as the observed CP violation is not large enough to account for the massive asymmetry in the universe.
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